Stephen Eskildsen's book offers an in-depth study of the beliefs and practices of the Quanzhen (Complete Realization) School of Taoism, the predominant school of monastic Taoism in China. The Quanzhen School was founded in the latter half of the twelfth century by the eccentric holy man Wan Zhe (1113–1170), whose work was continued by his famous disciples commonly known as the Seven Realized Ones. This study draws upon surviving texts to examine the Quanzhen masters' approaches to mental discipline, intense asceticism, cultivation of health and longevity, mystical experience, supernormal powers, death and dying, charity and evangelism, and ritual. From these primary sources, Eskildsen provides a clear understanding of the nature of Quanzhen Taoism and reveals its core emphasis to be the cultivation of clarity and purity of mind that occurs not only through seated meditation, but also throughout the daily activities of life.
An overview of Daoist texts on passive meditation from the Latter Han through Tang periods. Stephen Eskildsen offers an overview of Daoist religious texts from the Latter Han (25220) through Tang (618907) periods, exploring passive meditation methods and their anticipated effects. These methods entailed observing the processes that unfold spontaneously within mind and body, rather than actively manipulating them by means common in medieval Daoist religion such as visualization, invocations, and the swallowing of breath or saliva. Through the resulting deep serenity, it was claimed, one could attain profound insights, experience visions, feel surges of vital force, overcome thirst and hunger, be cured of ailments, ascend the heavens, and gain eternal life. While the texts discussed follow the legacy of Warring States period Daoism such as the Laozi to a significant degree, they also draw upon medieval immortality methods and Buddhism. An understanding of the passive meditation literature provides important insights into the subsequent development of Neidan, or Internal Alchemy, meditation that emerged from the Song period onward.
Using a wide variety of original sources, this book brings to light how and why asceticism was carried out by Taoists during the first six centuries of the common era. It examines the practices of fasting, celibacy, self-imposed poverty, wilderness seclusion, and sleep-avoidance, and it discusses the beliefs and attitudes that motivated and justified such drastic actions. Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion demonstrates that although Taoist ascetics pursued austerities that were extremely rigorous, they did not seek to mortify the flesh. Through their austerities, they almost always sought to improve their physical strength and health, because they aspired toward physical longevity as well as spiritual perfection. Even though they sometimes taxed their bodies severely, they believed that their strength and health would eventually be restored if they persevered. The highest goal was to ascend to divine realms in an immortal body. However, certain beliefs that emerged during this period—particularly those influenced by Buddhism—may have caused some Taoist ascetics to virtually abandon their concern with longevity, and to focus disproportionately upon the perfection of the spirit. Such ascetics were more likely to purposely harm and neglect their bodies, contradictory as this may have been to the cherished ideals of the Taoist religion. Eskildsen traces how this problem may have emerged, and how it was viewed and dealt with by those who maintained the ideal of longevity.
Using a wide variety of original sources, this book examines how and why early Taoists carried out such ascetic practices as fasting, celibacy, sleep deprivation, and wilderness seclusion.
Stephen Eskildsen's book offers an in-depth study of the beliefs and practices of the Quanzhen (Complete Realization) School of Taoism, the predominant school of monastic Taoism in China. The Quanzhen School was founded in the latter half of the twelfth century by the eccentric holy man Wan Zhe (1113–1170), whose work was continued by his famous disciples commonly known as the Seven Realized Ones. This study draws upon surviving texts to examine the Quanzhen masters' approaches to mental discipline, intense asceticism, cultivation of health and longevity, mystical experience, supernormal powers, death and dying, charity and evangelism, and ritual. From these primary sources, Eskildsen provides a clear understanding of the nature of Quanzhen Taoism and reveals its core emphasis to be the cultivation of clarity and purity of mind that occurs not only through seated meditation, but also throughout the daily activities of life.
An overview of Daoist texts on passive meditation from the Latter Han through Tang periods. Stephen Eskildsen offers an overview of Daoist religious texts from the Latter Han (25220) through Tang (618907) periods, exploring passive meditation methods and their anticipated effects. These methods entailed observing the processes that unfold spontaneously within mind and body, rather than actively manipulating them by means common in medieval Daoist religion such as visualization, invocations, and the swallowing of breath or saliva. Through the resulting deep serenity, it was claimed, one could attain profound insights, experience visions, feel surges of vital force, overcome thirst and hunger, be cured of ailments, ascend the heavens, and gain eternal life. While the texts discussed follow the legacy of Warring States period Daoism such as the Laozi to a significant degree, they also draw upon medieval immortality methods and Buddhism. An understanding of the passive meditation literature provides important insights into the subsequent development of Neidan, or Internal Alchemy, meditation that emerged from the Song period onward.
A gripping true-life thriller about the first US submarine to sink a Japanese aircraft carrier—and the sub’s tragic twist of fate In 1939 off the New England coast, the submarine USS Squalus accidentally sinks to the bottom of the sea during a training exercise, killing half her crew. Coming to the rescue is the USS Sculpin, in many ways the Squalus’s twin. As their oxygen supply dwindles, the remaining crew aboard the Squalus are saved in a time-consuming, white-knuckle operation. Eventually the sunken submarine is raised, repaired, and returned to duty, with a new name: the Sailfish. Four years later, on patrol during the darkest days of the Pacific War, the Sailfish’s radarman picks up the tell-tale signs of a Japanese convoy, known by U.S. intelligence to include aircraft carriers, the most formidable of all enemy ships. Never before has an American submarine taken down a carrier—much less in the middle of a typhoon. Immediately, the crewmen swing into action, embarking on a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as this once-dead boat evades enemy cruisers to stalk closer and closer to their prized target. Little do they know that aboard the Japanese carrier are survivors of an attack on the USS Sculpin, the very boat that saved the Squalis-turned-Sailfish back in ’39. Author Stephen L. Moore takes readers inside the nine-hour duel, narrating the action aboard both the Sailfish and the doomed carrier, where the American POWs fight against all odds to save their own lives before the ship goes down. Employing a wealth of new information, including long-lost survivors' accounts, fresh interviews with the last of the sub's crew, and official patrol reports, Strike of the Sailfish is the thrilling story of this strange chapter of naval history.
With platinum and rhodium, palladium is one of the most important members of the platinum metal group. The last Gmelin treatment of it was in 1942, and knowledge of its properties and chemistry has made enormous strides since then. This volume is primarily concerned with binary compounds and with the coordination complexes derived from them. Although it is a member of the nickel-palladium-platinum triad, it more closely resernblas platinum in its binary and coordination chemistry, though being a second-row transition element it displays less tendency than does platinum to assume higher oxidation states. ln heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis, referred to at appropriate points, palladium and its complexes are of great importance in bulk and fine chemieals production, effecting a wide variety of organic transformations. The arrangement of material in this volume follows the traditional Gmelin arrangement. Within each category of compounds or complexes the material is arranged, as usual, in order of ascending metal oxidation states (e. g., palladium(ll) precedes palladium(IV)). The chemistry of the palladium-hydrogen system is so large that it merits a separate volume, so this book starts with the binary oxides and oxopalladates followed by hydroxides, hydroxo complexes and aquo complexes. Then nitrides and nitrates are treated. They are followed by the large chapters on halides and their complexes (172 pages). The largest single chapter in this volume (11 0 pages) deals with chlorides, chloropalladates and other chloro complexes.
When submarines failed to return to port from patrol, they were officially listed by the Navy as “overdue and presumed lost.” Loved ones were notified by the War Department that their siblings, spouses, and sons were missing in action and presumed lost. While 52 U.S. submarines were sunk in the Pacific, the Japanese took prisoners of war from the survivors of only seven of these lost submarines. Presumed Lost is the compelling story of the final patrols of those seven submarines and the long captivity of the survivors. Of the 196 sailors taken prisoner, 158 would survive the horrors of the POW camps, where torture, starvation, and slave labor were common. This is the most complete and accurate record of their captivity experiences ever compiled. Author Stephen L. Moore draws on personal interviews with the survivors, as well as on diaries, family archives, and POW statements to reveal new details and correct longstanding errors in previously published accounts. Moore’s research brought to light the following facts: Most crewmen from USS Perch endured 1,298 days of captivity without their families ever being told that they were still alive. The Perch and USS Grenadier were so badly damaged by enemy depth-charge attacks that their crews were forced to scuttle their ships. USS Sculpin and USS S-44 went down fighting, with only forty-two men from the Sculpin being taken prisoner and half of them perishing on the way to Japan. USS Tang and USS Tullibee, victims of their own faulty, circling torpedoes, had few survivors, five of whom managed to escape from the sunken, burning Tang when it was 180 feet below the ocean surface. As many as six men survived the loss of USS Robalo after it struck a mine off Palawan, but none of those survived the prison camps. The book includes dozens of rare photos of the POWs, many of which have never before been published. Appendices include final muster rolls of the seven submarines and a complete list of the U.S. submariners who were held as POWs, with details of their various camps of internment
Photography explores the photograph in the twenty-first century and its importance as a media form. Stephen Bull considers our media-saturated society and the place of photography in everyday life, introducing the theories used to analyse photographs and exploring the impact of digital technology. The text is split into short, accessible chapters on the broad themes central to the study and analysis of photography, and key issues are explained and applied to visual examples in each chapter. Topics covered include: the identity of photography the meanings of photographs photography for sale snapshots the photograph as document photography as art photographs in fashion photography and celebrity. Photography is an up-to-date, clear and comprehensive introduction to debates about photography now and is particularly useful to media, photography and visual culture students.
Cataract Surgery With Phaco and Femtophaco Techniques offers a unique insight into the evolution of phacoemulsification machines and the development of new ways to supply energy, as well as new devices that improve fluidics therefore increasing the safety of the phaco and femtophaco surgical procedures. Dr. Lucio Buratto, Dr. Stephen Brint, and Dr. Rosalia Sorce provide a step-by-step approach to everything the surgeon must learn about the physical principles that regulate the fluidics and energy to understand the machine’s working during the surgical procedure. Cataract Surgery With Phaco and Femtophaco Techniques covers a wide variety of topics, including anterior chamber phacoemulsification, endocapsular techniques, irrigation and aspiration, fluidics and pumps, and principles of femtosecond cataract surgery. Supplemented by more than 300 color illustrations, diagrams, a glossary, and references, all surgeons from beginner to expert will want this unique resource by their side.
Understanding the emergence of a scientific culture - one in which cognitive values generally are modelled on, or subordinated to, scientific ones - is one of the foremost historical and philosophical problems with which we are now confronted. The significance of the emergence of such scientific values lies above all in their ability to provide the criteria by which we come to appraise cognitive enquiry, and which shape our understanding of what it can achieve. The period between the 1680s and the middle of the eighteenth century is a very distinctive one in this development. It is then that we witness the emergence of the idea that scientific values form a model for all cognitive claims. It is also at this time that science explicitly goes beyond technical expertise and begins to articulate a world-view designed to displace others, whether humanist or Christian. But what occurred took place in a peculiar and overdetermined fashion, and the outcome in the mid-eighteenth century was not the triumph of 'reason', as has commonly been supposed, but rather a simultaneous elevation of the standing of science and the beginnings of a serious questioning of whether science offers a comprehensive form of understanding. The Collapse of Mechanism and the Rise of Sensibility is the sequel to Stephen Gaukroger's acclaimed 2006 book The Emergence of a Scientific Culture. It offers a rich and fascinating picture of the development of intellectual culture in a period where understandings of the natural realm began to fragment.
This textbook comprehensively covers the basic principles and most recent advances regarding visual displays, auditory and tactile displays and controls; psychophysics; cognitive processes; human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence and artificial life; stress and human performance; occupational accidents and prevention; human group dynamics and complex systems; and anthropometry, workspace and environmental design. The systems perspective emphasizes nonlinear dynamics for system performance changes and emergent behaviours of complex person-machine systems. This book- • Surveys principles of conventional and computer-based machine interaction. • Assesses the relative effectiveness of accident analysis and prevention strategies. • Highlights nonlinear dynamics for system performance changes. • Examines artificial intelligence and complex systems. • Investigates sources of cognitive workload and fatigue. The textbook will be a valuable resource for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in diverse fields including ergonomics, human factors, cognitive science, computer science, operations management, and psychology. The textbook brings together core principles of person-machine interaction, accident analysis and prevention strategies, risk analysis and resilience, artificial intelligence, group dynamics, and nonlinear dynamics for an enhanced understanding of complex person-machine systems.
This book describes the way in which the human brain is supplied with blood and how the brain uses this to provide nutrients, primarily oxygen and glucose, to brain cells in order to maintain healthy brain function. In particular, it focuses on the quantitative nature of blood flow and metabolism. The book covers models of blood flow and metabolism and how these can be measured using a variety of imaging and non-imaging techniques. It also examines how cerebral blood flow is controlled in response to a wide variety of challenges and how it changes with normal physiological variation and in response to a large number of pathological conditions, including stroke and dementia.As the first substantial book for over ten years in a fast-changing field, it highlights how the subject has progressed in the last couple of decades. It tackles the subject in a quantitative way, underlining its importance in both technical and clinical fields. Audiences with a technical or clinical background, especially researchers and postgraduate students in biomedical engineering or medicine, will find this a valuable read.
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